As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As processors, graphics cards, random access memory (RAM) and other components in information handling systems have increased in clock speed and power consumption, the amount of heat produced by such components as a side-effect of normal operation has also increased. Often, the temperatures of these components need to be kept within a reasonable range to prevent overheating, instability, malfunction, and damage leading to a shortened component lifespan. Accordingly, heatsinks and/or air movers (e.g., cooling fans and blowers) have often been used in information handling systems to cool information handling systems and their components.
Oftentimes, it may be desirable to add additional cooling (e.g., liquid cooling) to an information handling resource, but physical and other constraints may make it difficult to do so. For example, adding additional cooling to a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU), or to some other high-power chip or component on a motherboard or circuit board might require a substantial redesign of a chassis or of other elements of an information handling system. This may be particularly problematic in custom-designed hardware.
Thus it may be advantageous to be able to add cooling components in a modular fashion. This disclosure provides techniques that may be employed to assist cooling of information handling systems and information handling resources various situations. In some embodiments, cooling components may be located on expansion cards that may be coupled to expansion slots of an information handling system.
It should be noted that the discussion of a technique in the Background section of this disclosure does not constitute an admission of prior-art status. No such admissions are made herein, unless clearly and unambiguously identified as such.